Wage slavery

Wage slavery is a term used to criticize how businesses exploit labor. It describes a situation where a person depends on wages or a salary to survive. This dependence becomes a problem when wages are very low. It also occurs when working conditions are poor and there is little competition for jobs. In such systems, workers often have very few chances for upward mobility.

Critics of wage-based employment use this term to highlight unequal bargaining power. This refers to the gap between labor, the people doing the work, and capital, the owners of the business. Some argue that social stratification, or the division of society into levels, forces people into unfulfilling work. This can happen because workers fear extreme poverty or starvation. They may also fear social stigma or a loss of status. This lack of choice is seen as a way that humans are deprived of their full potential.

The concept of wage labor being similar to slavery is very old. In ancient Rome, the writer Cicero suggested that receiving a wage was a sign of slavery. In 1763, a French journalist named Simon Linguet wrote about the power of need. He argued that laborers were compelled to work for the rich because they could not survive any other way. He called need a "terrible" and "imperious" master. This idea suggests that if you must work to avoid hunger, you are not truly free.

During the Industrial Revolution, many thinkers explored these connections. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Karl Marx critiqued how wage labor functioned. Marx argued that capitalist society infringed on individual autonomy. He believed the system treated the human body as a commodity, which is something to be sold or rented. Friedrich Engels added that while a slave is sold once, a worker must sell themselves every single day and hour. He noted that workers have no secure existence because owners only buy their labor when it is needed.

In the 19th century, the term was used in complex ways in the United States. Some defenders of chattel slavery in the South used the term to defend their system. They argued that Northern workers were "slaves of endless toil" and claimed their slaves were better off. Some modern studies have noted that 19th-century slaves sometimes had better material conditions than free urban laborers. However, abolitionists strongly disagreed with this comparison. Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans argued that wage workers were different because they had the opportunity to eventually work for themselves.

Frederick Douglass, a former slave and famous abolitionist, had a changing view on this. Initially, he felt he was his own master when he took a paying job. Later in life, he concluded that wage slavery could be just as "crushing" as chattel slavery. He believed the unequal power between owners and workers created a trap. He also noted how owners could use systems like shopkeeper orders to keep workers dependent. This kept the laborer at the mercy of the landowner.

Labor movements also used the term to demand change. In 1836, the Lowell mill girls in the United States used the imagery of wage slavery during a strike. They believed that the people working in the mills should actually own them. In the United Kingdom, the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union formed in 1834. They wanted to protect workers and eventually create a society where workers managed the industries themselves. This idea is known as syndicalism.

Over time, the way people talked about work began to shift. By the end of the 19th century, labor organizations often replaced "wage slavery" with the more neutral term "wage work." This change happened as groups shifted their focus toward specific goals, like raising pay. Despite this change in language, the debate over how much control workers should have remains a major part of economic history. Many people still look to worker cooperatives, where employees own and manage the business, as an alternative to traditional wage labor.